Foodies downsizing on space but not quality bloom in Brighton development
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Retirees and empty-nesters with a flair for food have been drawn to a new boutique development in the well-heeled bayside Melbourne suburb of Brighton.
The Flora development, at 15 Well Street, Brighton, has sold five of 10 apartments in the year it has been on the market, and one more is under contract. Jonathan Hallinan, owner of Bayside Project Management developers, says all of the interest has come from people downsizing.
“All the buyers are downsizers, people who are moving out of family homes in the bayside area and are wanting a low-maintenance, very high-quality standard of living,” Hallinan says.
One of the main components of that high-quality standard of living is the kitchen fit-out in each of 10 units. Celebrity chef Guy Grossi, whose much-celebrated three-hat Grossi Florentino, two-hat Mirka at Tolarno and Grossi Trattoria draw foodies nightly, designed every aspect of the kitchens in the boutique block.
“I approached him he has been engaged to design the kitchens down to the very last detail, working with my architect,” Hallinan says. “He worked very specifically and chose all of the appliances.”
Hallinan says the Grossi-designed kitchens were a “huge selling point” for Flora buyers.
All of the apartments in the block have two bedrooms, and most also have a study. They range in size from 150 square metres to 180 square metres, and prices range from $1.7 million up to $2.1 million.
Design firm Hecker Phelan & Guthrie designed the units, which have large windows to capture the light and either terraces or courtyards. The gardens have a Mediterranean feel, with lavender, olive trees and figs.
Construction finished last year.
Hallinan has recently purchased another development site in Brighton for $5.3 million, according to the Australian Financial Review. Hallinan intends to build another luxury block with Guy Grossi-designed kitchens on the 1,500-square-metre block.